Saints’ 1-0 win over West Ham has given Ronald Koeman renewed hope that his side can achieve even more than they did last season.

The victory over the Hammers at St Mary’s lifted Saints back to seventh in the table, and cut the gap to their sixth placed opponents to just two points.

A run of 13 points out of the last possible 15, and five clean sheets in a row in that time, has boosted the prospects of Saints not only qualifying for Europe again, but maybe even finishing higher than seventh as they did in the last campaign.

Koeman smiled: “We try even to do it better than last season but it’s a great win.

“West Ham had five points more, now the gap is only two points and we are back fighting for what is our ambition.”

The victory over the Hammers at St Mary’s was a gutsy display, and again built on solid foundations.

Koeman reverted to a back five, and it paid dividends as West Ham failed to break them down, even with Saints having to play much of the second half with ten men after Victor Wanyama’s sending off.

Fraser Forster was singled out for praise, but Koeman preferred to compliment the entire defensive unit.

“Of course the goalkeeper has a lot of credits to this fifth clean sheet in a row but I think the team showed really that spirit and maybe that was the example how we did defending when we played with 11 against ten,” said Koeman.

“I can’t remember that they create an open chance to score.

“Of course, a lot of crosses, some shots out of the box, but I was very comfortable in the way we did our defence, even with one player less on the pitch.”

Forster has now kept five clean sheets in five games since his return from injury, the best effort in the league from a Saints keeper for 15 years.

Koeman confessed that it cannot be pure coincidence that Forster’s return has led to such defensive solidity.

“When he came back of course it gave everybody really a boost,” reflected the Saints boss.

“He was one of the key players for that successful last season.

“Last season we had a lot of clean sheets.

“We know if we keep a clean sheet normally we win the game because we have players to score, players to create.

“Even today in the last 15 minutes we had the best chances to score - Shane one time and Charlie Austin one time.

“It’s important how you are defending and your goalkeeper and when he was back against Watford at home clean sheet. Second time clean sheet and that gives everybody a lot of confidence.”